Purpose

Teachers’ ability attributions play an important role in students’ educational outcomes. Perceptions of academic abilities, however, are subject to biases. This study aims to examine ethnic biases in homeroom teachers’ ability attributions in Hungarian primary schools.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a unique database combining survey data collected among teachers with administrative data on students’ standardised test scores, the author compares ability attributions towards equally competent minority and majority classmates (Nstudents = 604, Nclasses = 34 in Grade 6; Nstudents = 420, Nclasses = 27 in Grade 8).

Findings

The author finds that Roma students are less likely to be perceived as smart by their homeroom teachers than their non-Roma classmates with similar standardised achievement scores in Grade 6, but not in Grade 8. The ethnic difference in being perceived as smart is substantially reduced after controlling for students’ socioeconomic status and cultural resources. On the other hand, homeroom teachers perceive Roma students to be similarly hardworking and “good students” than equally competent non-Roma students.

Originality/value

This study highlights an important mechanism that can contribute to educational inequalities. The findings suggest that previously found differences between equally competent Roma and non-Roma students’ teacher-given school grades might arise due to biases in ability attributions rather than differences in perceived efforts. It is important to make teachers aware of potential biases in student assessment and evaluation.

中文翻译：

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同样有能力的罗姆少数民族学生是否被认为不如非罗姆人同学聪明？教师能力归因的种族差异

目的

教师的能力归因对学生的教育成果起着重要作用。然而，对学术能力的看法可能会存在偏见。本研究旨在调查匈牙利小学班主任能力归因中的种族偏见。

设计/方法论/途径

作者使用一个独特的数据库，将教师收集的调查数据与学生标准化考试成绩的管理数据相结合，比较了能力相同的少数族裔和多数族同学的能力归因（Nstudents = 604，Nclasses = 6 年级 34；Nstudents = 420，Nclasses = 8 年级 27）。

发现

作者发现，在六年级标准化成绩分数相似的非罗姆学生中，罗姆学生被班主任认为聪明的可能性较小，但在八年级则不然。被认为聪明的种族差异大大缩小在控制了学生的社会经济地位和文化资源后。另一方面，班主任认为罗姆人学生与同等能力的非罗姆人学生一样勤奋，是“好学生”。

原创性/价值

这项研究强调了可能导致教育不平等的一个重要机制。研究结果表明，之前发现的同等能力的罗姆人和非罗姆人学生在教师给予的学校成绩之间的差异可能是由于能力归因的偏差而不是感知努力的差异而产生的。让教师意识到学生评估和评价中潜在的偏见非常重要。